May 31: The Angels announced today that Trout “underwent successful surgery to the ulnar collateral ligament of his left thumb as well as a repair of his dorsal capsule today.” The general timetable for his return is currently pegged at six to eight weeks, per the team.
May 29, 10:26pm: Trout will undergo surgery on Wednesday, the club announced. He is expected to miss approximately six to eight weeks.
6:33pm: The Angels will place superstar center fielder Mike Trout on the 10-day DL for the first time in his career, according to J.P. Hoornstra of the Southern California News Group (via Twitter). An MRI today revealed a torn ulnar collateral ligament in Trout’s left thumb, the team announced and Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times was among those to report (Twitter link).
Surgery is on the table at this point, though a decision has yet to be made. If the 25-year-old does end up going under the knife, he could be facing an extended absence for the first time in his already-storied career.
Los Angeles has selected the contract of veteran journeyman Eric Young Jr. to replace Trout on the roster. Young, who just turned 32, signed with the organization on a minor-league deal over the winter.
Injuries have hit the Angels rather hard through the first two months of the season, especially in the pitching staff, though the team has managed to hover around .500. That’s due in no small par to the otherworldly contributions of Trout, who entered today’s action with a ridiculous .337/.461/.742 batting line and a league-leading 16 home runs.
Trout had a less-than-sizzling start to his career upon a late-season call-up in 2011, his age-19 season, but has otherwise been utterly exceptional. He also has enjoyed more or less flawless health during his historic run since the start of 2012, playing in all but 45 of the Angels’ games until today.
Clearly, there’s no replacing Trout, but the Halos are set up about as well as could be hoped to weather an absence up the middle. Cameron Maybin and Ben Revere each have significant experience in center, and Young has spent a good bit of time there as well.
Young has seen action in each of the last eight MLB seasons, though he made it into only six games in 2016. While he has never hit much at the game’s highest level, Young is slashing a robust .354/.419/.528 with five home runs and 15 steals through 201 Triple-A plate appearances this year.
Rest in peace, Angels season.
Is there a good reason to watch LA sans Trout?
Nope.
Pujols is knocking on the door of 600. That’s pretty exciting. But once he eclipses that… nah not really.
Andrelton Simmons playing defense is pretty fun to watch.
Yeah because the Angels’ seasons with Trout have been hugely successful. Seriously, they have made the playoffs once in his career. He’s a great player, but don’t make it out to be a playoff team losing their leader or something.
The Angels have been hit with some bad luc with pitching and some truly terrible long-term contracts (Pujols and Hamilton). Trout has almost single-handedly kept them at least near .500 for years.
The Angels were a fringe contender who just gave up 5 wins. That’s what Rest In Peace Angels season means.
Baseball hates us all.
What a shame. Hopefully on a 2-3 week recovery. Dude was on pace for the MVP and it wasn’t close
Except for Aaron Judge tearing the cover off the ball has put him in the conversation.
Not a chance on a 2 to 3 week return. With this sort of injury, even the suggested 8-10 is ambitious
WOWOWOWOWOOWOW
It seems like every star player has dealt with an injury this year
Goldschmidt’s been healthy, as usual.
Disappointing for baseball fans everywhere! Maybe he will start sliding feet first!
Nobody slides feet first while stealing a base
Feet first slides while stealing a base are pretty rare. Some players do it but most slide head first on steals.
Damn he was on pace for a possibly historic season. Sucks for Angels fans but should be a wake up call for the front office to get more support around him this offseason
I’m still kinda wondering who was out there in the past off-season. Ive been asking this to several people now who’ve been making similar statements with no clear answer from anyone.
I’m not saying there was necessarily anyone last off-season. But it’s been a theme pretty much since Trout came up that they needed to get a better supporting cast around him. This offseason they should be looking at guys like Moustakas, Darvish, Pineda, Tanaka, etc. to play supporting roles.
They have had some monster contracts on the books and need everything.
Hamilton’s contract comes off the books , the angels will have money to spend
They have been limited due to josh Hamiltons contract and this is the last season of that large chunk of money
Ehh I feel like when you have a player like Trout you should make exceptions in your budget. But that’s obviously assuming that turning a profit is not Moreno’s primary motivation (highly unlikely)
He didn’t want to be paying the luxury tax because of hamiltons contract because once you go over the luxury tax it will be difficult to get back under. That was morenos explanation and said he would do it for the right player
since when does signing free agents help? thats kind of how they got here in the first place (hamilton, wilson, pujols). draft polished college bats.
There is a reason superstars shouldn’t slide head first
No player has ever gotten injured sliding feet first. Being a professional athlete is an injury risk by itself.
Nobody slides feet first on a stolen base attempt.
Have you seen Jose Altuve?
A lot of players slide feet first on stolen base attempts.
That’s sort of silly to say; should he also avoid diving in the outfield for a sinking liner? Most players slide headfirst on stolen base attempts. There is a theory it gets you there a tiny bit faster, although I don’t know if that’s ever been proven. It makes some sense, as changing your momentum to slide feet-first might slow you down a hair. Sometimes injuries happen.
Rickey Henderson stole 1400 bases in his career. He never tore a ligament in his thumb. He always slid head first.
he also took his batting gloves off and kept them in his hands, just for instances like trout was involved in.
Interesting. I’m watching youtube videos of Rickey stealing bases and can’t find a single instance of him holding his batting gloves in his hands. He’s wearing them in all the ones I’ve found. Of course, not all of Rickey’s 1700 SB attempts are on there, so it’s possible he did it occasionally.
I hate how every time a big player gets hurt it has to be pointed out how they shouldn’t have been doing what they were.
If Trout would have gotten in to furniture sales this wouldn’t have happened.
Shoulda stuck to being a weatherman.
well that sucks
Tough blow for Him and LAA fans. While I do like his all around game he’s just too valuable to be attempting stealing bases. I rather would have him just batting and playing stellar defense. Hopefully he’s not out the entire year.
Trout looked to be early in a one-for-the-ages season. Thumb injuries linger, unfortunate. Heal up, MT.
this sucks because it’s probably going to ruin his amazing mvp run and our season is officially dead. Hopefully we sell all our one year deals we can and tank. And please do not rush grich back, we have no shot now.
I was thinking the same thing. Rather than be stuck at .500 and think you are in contention, now they will plummet to last place and trade as many people as possible and not rush any of the pitchers back. Keep them all out until 2018. Maybe this will force the organization to realize they arent ready to reasonably compete. With some bullpen arms coming back, that may allow them to trade off some others who are having better seasons then expected. Sell high!
It’s amazing that when the Angels miss the playoffs it’s not Trout’s fault because it’s not a one man game. But whenever Trout is injured and out of the lineup, the Angels have no chance because their team cannot win without him. So which one is it, because it can’t be both.
what? if we were to make the playoffs, it would be because of trouts greatness. Obviously when we lose him we’re going to be significantly worse and we were barely a wild card contender before the loss. So i don’t see your point
This logic doesn’t follow.
It can be both.
A mediocre team with one great player will have a very hard time making the playoffs, and simultaneously a mediocre team with one great player becomes a bad team without that great player.
The 2014 Angels proved they can win without Trout. 10 WAR and they won the division by 10 games. Plus if you look at total WAR on many playoff teams, their win value is mostly accumulated by a select few, and then the rest is spread out through several players. One example is last year’s Dodgers. Their pitching staff had a 14 WAR, but 10.5 of that was Kershaw, Maeda, Blanton, and Jansen. It took them 27 pitchers to get the remaining 3.5. All that aside though, the current Angels team falls off a cliff without Trout. At least on paper.
It depends on which team the Angels have put on the field and how much production they get from supporting players. Their 98 win season in 2014 was pretty much an example of the Bill James philosophy that if you get at least average or better at every position you’ll be a winning team every time. That 2014 Angels club got over 100 OPS-plus from all 9 of their starters in their lineup. That allowed them to lead the Majors in runs and have a 100-plus run differential despite only being 7th in the AL in ERA. And so with all of that, you could take Trout off that team and still get at least a tie for the division title. But every team since has either been too weak around him, hit too hard by injuries, or just not performed. Or any combination of the three. So there’s your answer. It depends on whether you get 2014 Angels or the last 3 seasons. No matter what though, the key to the Angels not being so dependent on Trout on a year to year basis is to bring back the kind of pitching they had 10 years ago. Because offense is too volatile from season to season at the Big A. Those teams from a decade ago were able to overcome that. Because one year they’d have offense, and the next year it would be Vladdy and everyone else, just like Trout. But the Angels overcame that by maintaining solid, well rounded, and deep pitching staffs. That’s how you get around it being Mike Trout and his 10 WAR and everyone else.
Really good points Ryan. I would also like them to play the style That suits their stadium. They were more successful and fun to watch stealing bases (Trout’s injury notwithstanding), bunting, hit and running, going first to third, strong bullpens, good defense. The bullpen has been good this year but defense hasn’t been as strong as hoped so far. The offense is well the offense
Grich? Randal? You know he’s with the Cards now right?
by grich i meant garrett richards, not randall grichuk… wasn’t awar grichuk went by grich also
This is my worst birthday ever
Having a triple crown season and his best HR rate of his career plus stealing bases (which I imagine will be curtailed now). Yet another bad break for a team that can ill afford them.
I just hope they put Cam back as closer when he’s back from the DL
Is this the beginning of a tragic, injury-riddled decline that will leave us wondering “what could have been?” as with so many before him?
No.
I don’t see why one injury spells doomsday. I suppose I don’t see why it doesn’t either, but I’d say the chances of an injury riddled career are the same as him coming back and never having a (big) injury problem again.
Tragic? There have been exactly zero injury-related declines in baseball that would qualify as tragic. Jose Fernandez and Yordano Ventura dying in accidents was tragic. Players not being the same after injuries is just part of the game.
Possibility Trout could play the season with the torn ligament as some Sox fans know. Pedroia played the entire 2014 season with a torn ligament in believe was his right thumb, but had no power that season.
Everybody is on the 10 day DL for the first time in their careers this year. Ha not that that’s important though pretty interesting he hasn’t been on the DL before
I hope Trout returns to the game soon.
He’s not even 26 yet and already has almost 1,000 career hits
Starr engraving those Rookie of the Year and MVP trophies for Judge.
Its May…
So? People were already naming Trout MVP. Also people have named Trout a alltime great and better then Mickey mantle even though he’s played 6 total years so far.
Trout’s talent was obvious and people were calling it before the Angels first brought him up. Aaron Judge has burst on the scene and so far has exceeded many expectations. Plus there have been numerous players who have gotten off to a real fast start like Judge and then tanked in August.
Do not compare judge to trout
Through the same point in their careers, yes Trout has been better than Mickey Mantle. I doubt anyone is saying Trout at this point is better than Mickey Mantle’s career, though; there’s obviously a lot more baseball years to be played. If you go to B-R, the most similar player through age-24 is Mantle. Everyone else in that top-10 is a hall of famer except Vada Pinson..
Trout is obviously the same sort of player as Mantle – a power/speed combo, although Mantle never stole a ton of bases, mostly because nobody stole many bases in the 50s and early-60s. It’s a fair comp, and then when you adjust for era it’s reasonable that if Trout continues on this career arc he’ll end up with a better career than Mantle, whose career was effectively over at age-34 because of his drinking.
According to OPS-plus, they are about the same through their first 5 seasons. Trout is on pace to post an OPS-plus higher than any OPS-plus Mickey Mantle ever had. Then there’s WAR. Mantle didn’t even reach 10 until his 6th season. He was around 5-6 until jumping to 9.5 in his fifth season, and then 11 in the next two. Mantle may not even be the right comparison…
I think if teams stole bases in the 50s Mantle may have been a slightly closer comp, honestly. I know Mantle had a wrecked nee because of the sprinkler incident. But he was a highly successful base-stealer, percentage-wise. Trout’s next best comps, on B-R, are are Griffey, Aaron, Ott, Robinson, Cepeda, Kaline, Foxx, Pinson and a conemporary player, Miggy, who is nothing like Trout.
Of all those guys, I suppose Aaron is the closest. He stole lots of bases early in his career, but he was never really a center fielder. Bill James once wrote that the best players truly have no great comps, and B-R uses his similarity scores to make their list. Mantle is closest.
People were naming Trout MVP because he’s already proven time and time again to be a consistent elite player, and has led the MLB in WAR for several consecutive years now.
Big difference.
yeah no…
Death is the new Eck
maybe they could trade for randall grichuk
That would be dope but I think the Cards would want too much because they wouldn’t want to trade him while his value is down. I just wish we never sent him to St Louis for Salas and Freese in the first place.
Grichuk is not a good player. I don’t know why Angels fans are still stuck on him. This is his fourth season and has had one decent year but has never actually played a full season.
Well I guess cause we never won with Freese and Salas and he’s still a young player. We’re hung up on Jean Segura, Patrick Corbin, all the prospects we had that were traded for rentals. Grichuk definitely has potential and has shown it so saying he’s simply not a good player is inaccurate.
OMG! Patrick Corbin? Have you looked at his numbers? He sucks! There’s a reason nobody cared about him until 3 years after the Angels traded him. The only prospect they’ve traded away who has been any good is Segura. But where was he supposed to play? He didn’t even become good until the last couple of seasons. And the Angels actually won 98 games the season they acquired Freese and Salas for Grichuk and Peter Bourjos. The best chance they’ve had to win a championship since 2009. So yeah, I’d make that trade over and over again. And I wish Freese was still an Angel. He fit right in here.
I agree with what you said and I loved freese good clubhouse guy
Man you asked why people are hung up on Grichuk all I did was answer that we have a weak farm system and every good prospect we have gets traded. If Simmons gets hurt or we don’t win with him and the pitching sucks then everyone will be mad we traded Newcomb. Not saying Freese and Salas didn’t make the team better at all don’t twist my words my guy. Just saying we never win when we trade for guys to put us “over the top” so maybe Angels fans think about what kinda team we could have if we kept them.
Yall trippin thats why its so hard to be an angels fan, I can take the team losing every year but our own fans are trash and fight each other over opinions instead of showing up to games. If you wanna be such a combatant fan go be a fan of a different team I’m just trying to support my team and show up to games and leave in the 6th inning when we’re down by 5 to beat traffic ok leave me alone please.
Do humans have “ulnar collateral ligament” in their thumbs? Or maybe Trout’s elbow ligaments extend to his thumbs. He is not of this world.
Yeah thumbs and elbows have UCLs.
Yes, Dee Gordon tore the UCL in his thumb in 2012 doing the same thing as Trout.
The ulna is the larger bone of the two bones of the forearm, extending from elbow to wrist on the side opposite the thumb. You have ligaments at both ends.
Thanks for the info! Good thing I’m not a doctor or many pitchers would have their thumbs repaired instead of their elbows. Such a great educated group of commenters!!!
While I do appreciate being credited along with those guys, I think they deserve a lot more credit because I just google searched “ucl thumb” and “how many ucls do humans have” lol
No pressure for his interim replacement
Why do owners allow head first slides? Stupid! Put it in their contract…get hurt by sliding head first… I don’t pay you while you’re on the DL. Figure it out knucklehead. How many injuries before the owners put the hammer down? And head first slides slows you down…feet first is faster than head first.
Not playing a player on the DL is obviously illegal. Most players slide head first on stolen bases. Rickey Henderson attempted 1700 steals head-first and never tore a thumb ligament. Injuries happen in professional sports.
Stop it! Injuries happen. Even Mike Trout is not immune to the DL.
I just looked at the player pages of Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle on BR.com and it turns out that Trout’s 228 OPS-plus is higher than any OPS-plus that Mantle ever recorded. But it’s a typical OPS-plus for Ruth in his prime. Then I looked at WAR. Trout has been around 10 in his first 5 years. Mantle hovered around 5-6 in his first 5 years. But The Babe was at 11-14 in the first few years when he switched from pitching to an outfielder. Lou Gerhig reached 11 in 1927 but didn’t get to 10 WAR again until 1934. Only twice did Lou get to 10 in his career. The saddest part of this injury is that it’s happening when Trout was on pace to put up truly historic numbers. But he can still achieve an historic OPS-plus when he returns. He just won’t accumulate the same WAR he normally has, which is basically Ruthian…
Exactly. And it’s hard to imagine Ruth was as good simply because he didn’t play against the best talent in the world. Mantle really didn’t, either, as the color line was crumbling while MM was playing. We’ve never seen a player as special as Trout in our lives; maybe Rickey, but he was special in a different way.
The true test will be time. If Trout plays as long as Mantle, Ruth or Gehrig then a comparison is in order. He’s got a way to go before he can be mentioned with any of them.
He’s such a remarkable player, you hope he doesn’t rush back and not give it enough time to heal.
Now that Trout is out (ha!) I think this clears the way for Judge to be the AL MVP this season. Sucks to see the best baseball player out for any sort of extended time though.
There’s a lot of season left before Judge or anyone else can be considered for MVP
MLB.com
Trout surgery not a success
Injury worse than originally thought
A return this season unlikely
Surgery is tomorrow. Please do your research.
Yeah if you’re going to troll at least make it believable
I’m still waiting for a club to announce an unsuccessful surgery. “Sorry guys, we blew it. Had to amputate.”